Turkish leader dismisses Kurdish autonomy

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ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Turkey will not condone a separate autonomous Kurdish government in Syria, similar to the one in Iraq, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Erdogan told journalists aboard a plane en route from Berlin to Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday the arrangement of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Administration, a self-governing region within Iraq, would not be applied to Syria, the Turkish Hurryiet Daily News reported Friday.

With the continuing escalation of Syrian hostilities, Kurdish groups in Turkey have been mobilizing to defend Kurdish enclaves within Syria, the newspaper said.

Many Kurds are seeking autonomy for Kurdish-inhabited parts of Syria that were abandoned by Syrian government forces.